Signature French Wines: a new online fine
boutique wine store for Hong Kong and beyond
At the beginning of last April, working as
their Brand Ambassador / Sommelier, I helped to launch a brand new website
called “Signature French Wines” at the KEE Club in Hong Kong.
“Signature French wines” is an elegant and
sophisticated new high-end boutique wine retail store online, designed to
appeal to high-standard customers, offering a small yet growing and interesting
high quality and carefully selected portfolio of wines to the Asian market,
based and predominantly focus on Hong Kong and Mainland China (for now, but this is only the beginning).
Strategically named to be easily remembered
and obviously focusing on French wines, “Signature French wines” offers at
present mostly Burgundy wines, and a few more labels intentionally selected
from other regions like Alsace, Bordeaux, Rhone and Languedoc to broaden the
portfolio and extend the choices for the customers.
Targeting the high-end market of individual
buyers, “Signature French Wines” is representing the wines within the portfolio
of “Domaine des Grands Vins de France”, a Producer/Negociant company based in
Nuits-Saint-Georges, the wine capital of the Côte de Nuits located in the
northern part of the Côte d'Or, the limestone ridge that is at the heart of the
upper Burgundy wine region.
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| "Domaine des Grands Vins de France" Bourgogne Pinot Noir, "Signature French Wines" card and my indispensable "Laguiole" Sommelier (corkscrew as it is more commonly called) |
“Domaine des Grands Vins de France”
possesses about 6 hectares of vines in the vicinity of Nuits-Saint-Georges where
the founders, Jean-Yves Lehner and Christophe Grieshaber, have established
their headquarter and the cellar where they vinify, age and bottle all of their
wines.
They produce, vinify and age about 30+
wines from the most renown Burgundian appellations, villages and crus of Côte
de Nuits and Côte de Beaune area, including the ones offered by “Signature
French wines”.
Despite the wines produced from their own
vineyards, “Domaine des Grands Vins de France” also buys young wines and
grapes from various producers and wineries located in Burgundy but also other regions in France
to produce wines under their own label and brand.
Consequently, all the wines produced by "Domaine des Grands Vins de France" do
not specify a specific producer or winery on the label, because they are all
produced, vinify and age by “Domaines des Grands Vins de France” at their
facility in Nuits-Saint-Georges. (I repeat myself, I know, but I would like to
stress this point across for people that may still ask: but who is the producer
again?”)
The portfolio of “Signature French Wines” has
been divided in mainly 4 categories implying quality and price ratio, for a
more interesting and comprehensible understanding of the wines and the website
structure itself.
“Prestige Collection” 8 Burgundy wines
available (2 whites and 2 reds) :
2006 Chassagne Montrachet,
2006 Corton-Charlemegne Grand Cru
2006 Volnay
2004 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru “Les
Crots”
2008 Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
2007 Savigny-Les-Beaunes 1er Cru “Les
Peuillets”
2006 Pommard
2004 Nuits-Saint-Georges
“Burgundy Collection” 8 Burgundy wines
available (3 whites and 5 reds)
2006 Bourgogne Chardonnay Grande Cuvee
2006 Chablis
2000 Meursault
2007 Bourgogne Rouge Pinot Noir Reserve
Privee
2008 Bourgogne Rouge Hautes-Cotes-deNuits
2002 Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru “Aux
Thorey”
2006 Nuits-Saint-Georges
2000 Chambolle-Musigny
“Discovery Collection” 6 wines from other
French regions (2 whites and 4 reds)
2009 Gewurztraminer Alsace
2009 Pinot Blanc Auxerrois Alsace
2009 Julienas Beaujolais
2007 Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge Cuvee Grande
Reserve Rhone Valley
2010 Chateau Laborie Bordeaux Rouge
2009 Vin de Pays Cathare “Les Grandes Terres”
Languedoc
"Signature Collection" 2 sparkling wines N# 8 and other wines with other N# coming soon
NV Signature N#8 white sparkling Loire Valley
NV Signature N#8 Rose sparkling Loire Valley
"Signature Collection" 2 sparkling wines N# 8 and other wines with other N# coming soon
NV Signature N#8 white sparkling Loire Valley
NV Signature N#8 Rose sparkling Loire Valley
I invite you to go to the website at
“Signature French Wines” to find more details about availability, prices, pictures and
more info about the wines. All the wines are only available through the website as they do not have a physical store in the street, hence the great prices on their wines. "Signature French Wines" guarantees all deliveries made through their website in Hong Kong to be delivered within 24 hours. They are not going through an importer and a distributor, the traditional way, they are importer / online retailer which also allow them to offer wines of great quality at very competitive prices.
In comparison to most street wine retail
stores in Hong Kong, which (in most case scenario and in my honest opinion
after trying quiet a few of them) mostly offer poor storage condition, rarely
talkative and not knowledgeable staff; “Signature French Wines” online store
presents the wines under a different light with informative elements relevant
to your interest such as grape variety, type of soil, region, food pairing,
service temperature, etc…, in a short, condensed and professional manner like a
Sommelier or any other wine professional will do.
You can also go to “Domaine des Grands Vins de France”, to have a better understanding about who they are and what they
produce. Make sure to arm yourself with a French dictionary as their website is
only available in French.
Both, "Signature French Wines" and "Domaine des Grands Vins de France", aimed to offer their customers complex, structure and well-crafted wines that are reflecting their Terroir of origin and the typicity of the varietals, with the elegance and classicism especially renown to Burgundian wines.
Signature French Wines Promotion and Events
Since the launch at the Kee club last
April, the adventure and my role as Brand Ambassador / Sommelier for both
“Signature French Wines” and “Domaine des Grands Vins de France”, aside of my
daily responsibility as Restaurant Manager / Sommelier, brought me to
participate to other events to do the promotion and marketing for both Brands
and pour the wines for customers in order to help them discover the portfolio.
We were presents on the Azimut-Benetti
booth, at the “Hainan Rendez-Vous”, a billionaire life-style exhibition of
luxury yachts, private jets and prestigious cars cleverly located in Sanya,
where the Chinese jet-set seems to spend a great deal of time on their
vacation, like a Chinese Cote d’Azur-like.
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| Hainan Rendez-Vous 2012 entrance |
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| Azimut-Benetti Boats at Hainan Rendez-Vous 2012 |
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| The Azimut-Benetti dock and booth in the background at Hainan Rendez-Vous 2012 |
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| Bugatti booth at Hainan Rendez-Vous |
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| Lamborghini at Hainan Rendez Vous |
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| Porsche at Hainan Rendez-Vous |
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| Ferrari at Hainan Rendez-Vous |
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| Azimut Boat with the hotel where I stayed in the far left background |
“Hainan Rendez-Vous” took place from
5th-8th April in Sanya (Hainan Island, China), drawing China's ultra-high net
worth individuals to the Riviera-like shores of Sanya for an unforgettable
experience of intensive networking, fabulous entertainment, big ticket shopping
and lifestyle discovery. The Azimut-Benetti Group chose Signature French Wines
for their 150 guests and press, who savoured 2004, Saint Veran 2008 and Bourgogne
Pinot Noir 2007.
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| "Domaine des Grands Vins de France" wine selection presented by "Signature French Wines" and poured by myself inside the Azimut-Benetti booth at Hainan Rendez-Vous |
The Signature French Wines team (including myself) also did two events at “The Cat Street Gallery” in Hong Kong.
One for the Peter Yuill’s exhibit on April 19th, where more than 200 of Hong Kong’s chic and stylish art lovers attended The Cat Street Gallery for “Fading Glory,” a pop up solo exhibition by this Honk Kong-based Canadian artist. The guests nibbled on delicious canapés and sipped wine sponsored by Signature French Wine: its N°8 Brut and N° 8 Rosé.
One for the Peter Yuill’s exhibit on April 19th, where more than 200 of Hong Kong’s chic and stylish art lovers attended The Cat Street Gallery for “Fading Glory,” a pop up solo exhibition by this Honk Kong-based Canadian artist. The guests nibbled on delicious canapés and sipped wine sponsored by Signature French Wine: its N°8 Brut and N° 8 Rosé.
The last one was also at the Cat Street
Gallery, at the beginning of this month for Mark Demsteader “Muses” painting
exhibition, where once again a nice crowd had the chance to admire the painting
while tasting N° 8 Rosé, 2008 Saint-Veran, 2006 Bourgogne Chardonnay, 2007 and
2008 Bourgogne Rouge.
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| "Domaine des Grands Vins de France" wine selection presented by "Signature French Wines" during the last 4-5 events including the one at the KEE Club in Hong Kong |
I will surely write another post to
describe all the above wines that we tasted, however for today I will just
describe the most appreciated and most successful of them probably due to the
location of the different venues and occasion: N° 8 Rosé.
NV Signature N° 8 Rosé Brut Sparkling wine Loire Valley France
Produced under strict Traditional Champagne
method from a blend of red grape varieties from the Loire Valley, N° 8 Rosé
boasts a light, pale salmon-melon colour with small and lively bubbles. The fresh and inviting nose offers
light, delightful floral and fruity aromas of red berries like cherry and
raspberry with blossom notes. Rather delicate and simple, enjoyable and
versatile, uncomplicated and gentle with fruity nuances without being sweet,
the palate has a good balance between the refreshing acidity and the agreeable
fruitiness. No point to be fussy, it is one of these no-brainer sparkling wines
that proves particularly handy when you want to offer a good quality bubbly to
your guest without having to pay the hefty prices for real Champagne.
Enjoy!
LeDomduVin
For more info, photos, events dates and details go to www.signaturefrenchwines.com
and www.domaine-grands-vins-france.fr
I may not write about all the events that I will do, but I will surely continue from time to time to contribute and participate to this type of events as their Sommelier / Brand Ambassador, so stay tuned for more events and wine promotions with Signature French Wines and Domaines des Grands Vins de France on their respective website and on my blog.
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